March in Uganda

I see that I am not getting as many replies and comments on my blogs…perhaps I haven’t tickled your interests lately? Sorry about that! I’ll try harder.

March can be summarized as Easter, rain, boredom, and rain…and a little errrrrrrrrr!

Let me just recap a little, so no one is lost:
This year we started classes in March. The entire school was on strike almost the entire month of February and then needed some time to prepare for classes…so we began in March. I was under the impression (as I was so many times here) that our class fieldwork would last 3 weeks (as it did in the years before) and this year our class was going to Rwanda. I was so excited thinking we would have almost one month in Rwanda…after moving to Uganda I have heard so many wonderful things about Rwanda and how hard they have worked to pull together after the genocide. For the first time since August I thought, “Wow I am really going to learn something”. The arguments started and the complaints of the travel feaing classmates could be heard echoing from the walls and before I could blink we were only going for four (4) days. (Ok…for those of you geographically impaired...Rwanda is about an 8 hour bus ride South-southeast…) Therefore I am counting one day of travel and two days for Ugandan confusion aka what do we do now? I was so letdown and didn’t see any point in going for that short time (for the money it was going to cost). They chose the dates and I stayed home. Those four days I never went to class, because there were no classes, and I caught up on reading and cleaning! On that Friday, I went to the University to see one of my good friends who works for my host father. After I finished my visit I was walking to the bus when I heard someone yell, “Hey you are walking the wrong way…classes are this way” I looked around and saw a car full of my classmates heading to another building. I just continued walking…a little more hastily and with my blood starting to bubble. I called my American Classmate and explained. After about 6 phone calls we found out that the class had NEVER gone to Rwanda and they were attending lectures for those four days. I NEVER RECEIVED ONE PHONE CALL OR EMAIL…and every classmate has a class list. To make matters even worse on the following Monday when I got to class NO one spoke to me. NO one apologized; NO one asked me where I was.
The competition here for grades and good students is brutal and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was bloodshed over this in the past.

There is a Japanese girl who is a student at Makerere, but she is here on exchange for her undergraduate degree. We have become friends and complaint buddies. She experiences the same problems, obstacles, confusion, and sexism as me. After I explained the situation to her she said “lets go to Rwanda for longer and do everything that your class was suppose to do and MORE!” Therefore, I have suggested that we travel there and spend time so that we are there during the anniversary of the genocide on April 14th, 2008. I have read some great books written about the genocide and while I was at Penn State University I even had the privilege of meeting one of the United Nations Forensic Anthropologists and asked her some questions. I want to visit the sites that she spoke of. I am also going to find and attend a Rotary meeting to get more questions that I have answered! We are scheduled to be in Rwanda from the 9th to the 18th of April.

So… on the school front…no progress…I am still a white, FEMALE, scholarship recipient! (or…as I assured its understood…a colonizing, no-rights, rich, threat…If that seems harsh…you are welcome to come visit and see for yourself)

Next…Easter…

I assumed that Easter would be a big celebration in Uganda as Christmas was. There were no classes from Thursday to Tuesday, so I expected to rest. On Thursday I came back from town and when I walked up the stairs the Sudanese neighbours were preparing their foods for their weekend feast. They had huge pail fulls of onions, okra, and carrots among other vegetables. Then…as my eyes left the vegetables and focused back onto my path I noticed their meat of choice. Sadly, her four feet were tied to the second story railing this poor, beautiful goat. (It reminded me of the Bugs Bunny cartoon when they would put a pig on the spit…all that was missing was the apple in the mouth) I bent down beside her and patted her face and told her how sorry I was. (yes…I am an animal lover)

The next morning I woke up and opened my door, curtains, and windows to let in the warm breeze and I could hear this loud obnoxious noise. A second of concentration later my eyes finally caught up with my ears and I almost vomited. They had murdered that poor goat in the courtyard. Then, they decapitated, and allowed their eight-year-old son to take an iron pole and repeatedly beat the head of the animal. I thought about how much I wanted to become a vegetarian again.

All day the family cooked like busy bees and I was busy cleaning the apartment. A couple hours later I started smelling a very strange smell. I was unable to place the aroma; however, I was witness to the goat murder and the psychology of the whole thing was a rot in my stomach. I decided that I had to get out of the apartment for the day. As I left the courtyard I saw about 30 large fish heads being stewed.

I returned very late AFTER they were finished feasting.


The rain…
I would assume that it is the rainy season, but who knows anymore. Global warming is a huge problem…and its sad…maybe if Al Gore would have won Florida we would be doing something about it rather than dying and killing in Iraq. (Yes…I am feisty today!) Anyway…Its been raining and raining here. I am not sure how clean my apartment can get. I have been reading a lot (thanks to John and the books that he sends me). It rains so hard sometimes that the floor in my bedroom has become a swimming pool. This might not be understood at home, but try to think about it for a minute. Uganda is so incredibly dirty and dusty…not to be mean…just that there is a lot of dust in the air. When you walk on the street and a car drives by you can literally chew the air. Now, one would think that with all the rain (12-15 hour downpours 5 times a week) that the dust would settle…NO…it doesn’t…it’s an anomaly…it doesn’t really matter, but it’s a head scratcher!


Let me just say a little more about school (aka the not so educational-educational institution)
I really want to know my grades from last semester. I am an overachiever that has had the love from education ripped out from beneath me. Last night in class the teacher comes in and starts talking about grades and how some people never handed in their papers. (I’m like..phew…I handed my in!) Then he proceeds to say how the papers that he received where just regurgitated class lectures and some people based just on their paper would have failed. I’m starting to sweat…THEN…looks at me and says that my paper went beyond the class lectures and had been researched and well thought out!!! I didn’t look around, but I can bet my life that those classmates were squirming. THEN he proceeds to read the list of the papers he NEVER received. Guess what? My name was on the list…and my group was on the list. Therefore, he complemented me on my paper that he read, but never received. AND…therefore, could not be graded.

Oh…and just to put the cherry on the top on the 15 layer cake…students from the program who just graduated, from the 2 year program, JUST received their grades from the first semester, a month before they graduated- after completing 4 semesters!!!


So…I rest my case.

Comments please?